Afrin IDPs demand end to blockade on Aleppo’s Kurdish neighborhoods
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A civil society organization urged on Tuesday the Syrian transitional government to end the security and economic measures imposed on the Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods in the city of Aleppo, northwestern Syria.
The Afrin Social Association, a civil society organization operating in the city of Qamishli in northeast Syria, along with the Administration of Afrin and Shahba Displaced Persons Affairs, organized a protest in Qamishli to denounce what they described as the blockade on the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods.
Demonstrators urged the Syrian transitional government, Aleppo governor, and the Governorate Council to take immediate and practical steps to lift restrictions on the two neighborhoods, address the underlying causes of tension, and ensure legal accountability in a manner that would contribute to stability.
Mushira Mulla Rashid, coordinator for displaced people from Afrin, told North Press that, “In addition to demanding the lifting of the blockade on the Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafiyeh, and Bani Zaid neighborhoods, we call for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which relates to the return of displaced persons to their areas.”
She added that they are calling on the parties concerned and the guarantors of the March 10 agreement to implement the deal and lift the blockade on the two neighborhoods.
Rashid noted that since the fall of the al-Assad regime, the issue of the return of displaced people from Afrin, Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain), and Tel Abyad has remained unresolved.